The Soul-Sucking Canada Thread

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

recently posted in the skyline thread. Hard to think of a more soul-sucking skyscraper vista:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.47909...7i16384!8i8192

That is extremely depressing! It just seems to be designed for those who are anti-social who are obsessed with their work or school work and don't want to do anything else.

[MolsonExport]

Why is it so hard to build attractive (non-soul sucking) neighborhoods? Fer crissakes, we do a lousy job here in Canada.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by thewave46

I made a mistake.

It was the ambition, I suppose. Or what I thought was supposed to be the ambition. Aspiring upper-middle class life, detached and subdivided, goes the line. The right choice, right? Right?!? The top of the greasy pole, winning at the game of life, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

What a steaming pile of fucking bullshit. People aspire to this shit? Guess I get to live the experience for the next few years. Awesome.

The house is well-built I suppose, so at least it won't fall over, but the neighbourhood. Ick. Never have I seen so many houses that match the overcast skies of today. A perfect example of hitting every technical criteria and missing the heart of it. Like a Toyota Corolla. Or a toaster.

The more working-class neighbourhood I came from had its flaws (Why are you doing burnouts in the street at 11:30 at night? Why? I like sleep), but it felt human. There was noise, voices, kids playing, motion. One could sit on the deck and listen to life. Here? I sat on the deck recently. An uncanny stillness pervaded. The central A/C units whirred quietly to themselves. Nary a soul around. I went inside, because I felt awkwardly alone. Why did I do this again?

The farther I get away from people and the messiness that accompanies and the more I get into sterility, the more my soul rots. Is the soul rotting just an excuse for consumerism to sell us more shit? Fill that hideous emptiness with mass-produced junk? Make Amazon Prime Day a new national holiday?

I don't know man. Sweet is supposed to be nice, but that sickly sweetness overwhelms. I am appalled.

Interesting piece.
Silence may be golden but I agree that sometimes it is sterile. Except that most city neighborhoods like mine (large lots, big houses) still suffer from the sweet sounds of pickup trucks (why do they have to be so goddamned loud? to match their extreme brutish ugliness?*) and in the summer, motorcycles with their fucking after-market mufflers).

*“The goal of modern truck grilles,” wrote Jalopnik’s Jason Torchinsky in 2018, “seems to be… about creating a massive, brutal face of rage and intimidation.”

[MolsonExport]

from another thread. doesn't this photo suck your soul?

Originally Posted by Loco101

OMG that made me burst out laughing!!

And now clockzilla can piss or ejaculate all over the Réno-Dépot.

ON L'A. (We've got it.)

[905er]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

from another thread. doesn't this photo suck your soul?

Uglier than Vecna in all his glory.

[MolsonExport]

from another thread.

[lio45]

This page made me realize that thewave46 (formerly just “wave46”) hasn’t posted in a while; hope he’s ok.

He is (or was — RIP) one of this forum’s very best participants.

[MolsonExport]

Is there anything more soul-sucking than the sight of an abandoned RONA? Cripes, these empty shells are popping up everywhere, since RONA absorbed Lowe's. There's one in Mississauga near Winston Churchill Rd along the 401 that has been vacant for a dozen years.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.5990...8192?entry=ttu


Another abandoned RONA lies near the 401 in Cambridge. As for London, a newly vacated one on Wonderland Road near Sarnia Rd. Another one in London along Highbury Road, vacant for a decade.

These stores aren't easily converted to other uses, evidently.

[Acajack]

Abandoned stuff in otherwise booming areas is a sure-fire sign that we're doing something wrong in our city-building.

[O-tacular]

Are the abandoned RONAs more abundant than the abandoned SEARS stores?

[MolsonExport]

Probably not, although I think it is harder to covert a former RONA into different uses, than a former Sears. Partly because of the locations (RONAs tend to be built on more 'marginal' land than what was occupied by department stores), but also the (size of) footprint.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Are the abandoned RONAs more abundant than the abandoned SEARS stores?

Good question. There seem to be relatively few abandoned single-purpose big boxes like that in Ottawa-Gatineau. Or in Montreal.

Dead or dying malls aren't that hard to find around here though.

[Gresto]

Each glance at this thread is like those video game bosses that take a couple of bars of life force with each hit. Every visit here requires one to plant ten tree saplings to replenish the vigour and hope that are stolen. Be cognizant of that prior to clicking.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Good question. There seem to be relatively few abandoned single-purpose big boxes like that in Ottawa-Gatineau. Or in Montreal.

Dead or dying malls aren't that hard to find around here though.

Which is dying more? The power centres where you have to drive to each store or the malls where you are walking in a climate controlled environment? I know on the weekend Bayshore and Carlingwood Malls were extremely busy.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Which is dying more? The power centres where you have to drive to each store or the malls where you are walking in a climate controlled environment? I know on the weekend Bayshore and Carlingwood Malls were extremely busy.

Sorry. Yeah I was thinking more about strip malls and power centres.

Though perhaps the pre-Christmas season isn't the best time to judge the vibrancy of any retail premises. Bayshore is fine all the time but Carlingwood isn't that vibrant most of the year I'd say.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Gresto

Each glance at this thread is like those video game bosses that take a couple of bars of life force with each hit. Every visit here requires one to plant ten tree saplings to replenish the vigour and hope that are stolen. Be cognizant of that prior to clicking.

This post is almost on par with your original Bowlanus description.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Sorry. Yeah I was thinking more about strip malls and power centres.

Though perhaps the pre-Christmas season isn't the best time to judge the vibrancy of any retail premises. Bayshore is fine all the time but Carlingwood isn't that vibrant most of the year I'd say.

True, but being able to walk about the place without slush and cold is a bonus for me.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Which is dying more? The power centres where you have to drive to each store or the malls where you are walking in a climate controlled environment? I know on the weekend Bayshore and Carlingwood Malls were extremely busy.

The only malls that are doing well from my observations tend to be in larger cities and attract a large number of customers who are immigrants from various Asian countries.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Loco101

The only malls that are doing well from my observations tend to be in larger cities and attract a large number of customers who are immigrants from various Asian countries.

Super-regional malls are also doing OK, ie those that offer unique stores to a fairly large area, and they don't need to appeal to specific ethnic groups. Les Promenades Gatineau is like this. Bayshore and Rideau Centre in Ottawa are also like this. So is Carrefour Laval.

But you only need one of these per 300-500 hundred thousand people.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Abandoned stuff in otherwise booming areas is a sure-fire sign that we're doing something wrong in our city-building.

Not always. Dying malls are there in some vibrant cities all over the world. It's just a change of retail preferences. And in the case of North America, we are ridiculously over retailed with more retail square foot per capita than just about anyone but the US (without American incomes to support it). You can see the decline. Every mall that is not the major city centre or regional mall is increasingly full of junk retail with dollar stores and kiosks selling cellphone cases.

The sooner we get to redevelopment, the better things will be. I'm just looking at places like the old Sears store space at St. Laurent Mall. How long has that sat empty? It's crazy that spaces beside a major local transit hub has sat empty for years. That doesn't happen unless the business model is broken. Places like that (and in this case I mean the whole mall) need to be redeveloped.

Originally Posted by Acajack

Super-regional malls are also doing OK, ie those that offer unique stores to a fairly large area, and they don't need to appeal to specific ethnic groups. Les Promenades Gatineau is like this. Bayshore and Rideau Centre in Ottawa are also like this. So is Carrefour Laval.

But you only need one of these per 300-500 hundred thousand people.

Exactly. The success of Rideau and Bayshore basically renders every other mall on the Ottawa side of the river kinda useless. The best example of a large regional mall going to pot in the Ottawa area is Place D'Orleans. When half the mall has to turn in to a drop in centre for public servants to survive, the mall's viability is questionable. The area clearly can't support that much retail.